Following are highlights from the New England Sustainable Livestock Conference in Vermont and MOFGA’s Livestock Health workshop featuring Hue Karreman, a holistic veterinarian from Pennsylvania, and Jim and Nancy Gardiner, dairy farmers from Otselic, New York. For complete notes and handouts, contact me. Comments about bovine usually apply to all species.

 You need six sows to produce enough to pay to maintain a boar over winter.

 A cover crop of peas, oats and barley works well. You can cut it with a scythe and feed it to pigs, or use it as pasture for poultry.

 Cows should produce manure as often as they eat. If they don’t, check their liver.

 A fluid extract (i.e., herbal tincture) is made by mixing1 part herbal material (by weight) with 1 part grain alcohol.

 To control mange, use sulfur powder, pyrethrum powder or lime sulfur.

 Feed kelp for a shiny coat and fewer problems with lice and mange.

 To control ringworm, use a Betadine scrub, then apply tea tree oil externally.

 A cow with an S-shaped curve to its head, from neck to withers, is deficient in potassium.

 To control milk fever, give 2 ounces of apple cider vinegar twice a day for two weeks before calving.

 When doing an IV, hold the bottle no higher that the backbone.

 To control pink eye caused by eye trauma or flies, use tinctures of calendula, eyebright, euphrasia, and/or hypericum. A mixture of all four herbs in equal parts is best. As an alternative, buy a 3% boric acid ointment and mix it with water.

 Put powdered sugar on a sheep’s prolapsed uterus to shrink the uterus before pushing it in.

 To help reduce mastitis, dip cows’ teats two weeks after cows dry off and two weeks before they freshen.

 Mastitis caused by Aranobaterium pryogens is more common in summer and around flies and leaking milk.

 Materials that stimulate the immune system include vitamins A, B complex, C, D, E; selenium; Immunoblast (a mycobacterial cell wall fractionate from Bioniche); vaccines; Biocel CBT from Agridynamics; and Phyto mast (a serum from a hyper immune cow, produced by Dr. Karreman and available through a vet).

 Panax ginseng given at 8mg/kg body weight for six days will increase the number of white blood cells and decrease Staphylococcus aureus infection and somatic cell counts. See J. Veterinary Medicine, p. 519, Sept. 2001.

 Barley straw is a good copper source for sheep and goats. It may also help oxygenate ponds to reduce algae. Put one bale every 20 feet around the pond.

 It is important to maintain the correctly balanced intake of copper, zinc and calcium in sheep, according to National Research Council levels.

 Animals consume more minerals from loose minerals than from salt blocks.

 If you see ankle or joint problems, check for adrenal problems.

 When ingesting or giving Echinacea angustifolia, use capsicum as a catalyst to dilate cells and improve absorption.

 To treat for shock, put capsicum (cayenne) directly on the animal’s tongue.

 During a heat cycle, supplement the diet with selenium, zinc, copper, vitamins A, D and E, the herb Damiana, raspberry leaves (high in manganese, the “mothering mineral”) and kelp. Provide vitamins and minerals according to label directions. For herbs, see table accompanying this article.

 Raspberry leaves (free choice) stimulate the reproductive system through high protein and vitamin E.

 Before calving, supplement the diet with zinc and kelp. Dandelions are great at this time; they provide a lot of protein and energy and can help control acidosis (too much acid in the rumen, usually due to high grain consumption).

 During freshening, blue cohosh helps dilate the cervix. Feed a cow 2 to 3 Tbsp. of the herbal powder at start of softening.

 You often see a tongue protrusion when you touch the withers within the last third of gestation, if the cow has a retained placenta.

 To treat a retained placenta, within six hours of freshening give 4 Tbsp. slippery elm powder twice a day for 36 hours until the placenta comes out, then for one more day. If the placenta smells, give Damiana also.

 Treat hoof rot by soaking the hoof in a solution of Epsom salts in clean water then wrapping the foot. You can also give, orally or as a poultice, goldenseal, Echinacea, cayenne, Pau D’arco. The latter is especially good for fungal infections.

 Garlic is antibiotic, antifungal and kills parasites. One or two fresh, bruised cloves work best, given orally right after milking.

 Give calves colostrum as soon as possible after birth and for three days, when the cows’ milk cannot be put in the milk tank; then feed them whole milk for 90 days.